I Gave My Love A Red Red Rose
by seditionary
Summary: Kind of silly Valentine story. Morgan is hoping Reid will see through his romantic stunt, but he totally gets the wrong idea. Humor, fluff, Moreid.


**A/N: Just a quick, fluffy belated Valentine for you! Sorry it's late!**

**Seds**

* * *

It was February 14th, and the BAU bullpen was uncharacteristically cheery. Garcia had come in early and festooned the catwalk rail with red and pink crepe streamers. She'd placed a little box of conversation heart candies on everyone's desk, along with an envelope containing a kid-type superhero Valentine card. And, a huge banner had been hung on one wall proclaiming "Happy Valentine's Day!" in glitter.

Hotch walked in soon after JJ and Prentiss, and the three of them stood admiring the festive decor. Hotch looked at JJ.

"Garcia's handiwork, I imagine?" he asked.

"Of course. She's in pretty high spirits since this is her first Valentine's Day with Kevin."

"Ah." Hotch smiled slightly, and headed to his office. Prentiss gave JJ a sly grin.

"I guess both you and Garcia will be keeping an eye out for the mail lady today, huh?"

JJ laughed. "Oh, I suppose. But, Will and I have been together long enough that Valentine's Day really isn't that big of a deal. I wouldn't be surprised if he forgot."

"Will LaMontagne forget to send the love of his life a bouquet of flowers on Valentine's Day? Not a chance," Prentiss said chidingly. "He'll come through, no doubt about that."

"Well, we'll see." The two women headed toward their desks, and then Reid came in, followed by Morgan. Reid went straight to his computer, oblivious of the decorations, but Morgan paused and looked around with a chuckle.

"Well, well, looks like the Valentine's Day fairy has made an appearance." He headed to Garica's lair. "Baby Girl, those are some decorations. What's gotten into you?" He paused a moment, then realization hit and he added, "Oh, I know—Kevin."

"Derek Morgan, don't you dare be inappropriate with me on this sweet little candy-heart holiday!"

"I wasn't being—Oh. Hey, I didn't mean it like that, honest."

"Sure you didn't."

Morgan grinned teasingly. "It's gonna be a good day, huh?"

Garcia shrugged, her blonde curls threaded with red flowers and her eyelids sparkling with pink glittery eye shadow. "I hope so. I dropped enough hints, everything short of a neon sign on his lawn saying 'Send your girlfriend flowers, dumb-ass!'"

"Kevin's a smart boy. I wouldn't even worry about it."

Morgan headed back to the bullpen, but stopped in his tracks. Reid was standing by his desk chatting with JJ, and, as happened way too often for Morgan's mental health, he looked gorgeous. Morgan sighed, then cast a glance toward the hallway and checked the time. The mail lady, Florence, usually made it to their floor by around 10:00 AM. Morgan hoped she'd be on time today—he couldn't take the suspense for too long.

* * *

As the clock neared 11:30, both Garcia and JJ had taken a couple of unnecessary trips to the supply closet, the location best suited for gazing down the back hallway that Florence used for her route. They both returned with stoic looks on their faces, but by now Garcia was beginning to have a strained set to her jaw.

"What's the matter, Garcia?" Morgan teased. "You look a little tense."

"I'm fine," she said between gritted teeth. "I just think it's a tiny bit disturbing that the United States Post Office regards it's fellow feds with such a cavalier attitude that they can't manage to get the mail to us in a timely manner on the most important day of the year."

Hotch was coming around the corner and overheard. "The most important?" he asked with a grin.

"All right, the most_ romantic_ day of the year then, whatever."

Just then, Florence came in, pushing her mail cart in front of her. The top shelf was full of bouquets of flowers.

She crankily parked the cart in the middle of the bullpen, grabbed a colorful bunch and checked the name. "JJ Jareau!" she bellowed.

"Yes!" JJ had a bit of a smirk on her face as she went to collect her present.

"Garcia!"

"Here! I mean, that's for me!" Garcia was grinning ear to ear as she scooted forward and took the large, lavish bouquet from the mail lady's hands.

"Prentiss!" she yelled next.

Prentiss looked up, surprised. "Me? Really?" She went to the cart and was handed a smaller, but very pretty bouquet. JJ nosily came over and peered at the card before giving Prentiss a questioning look. Prentiss grinned, and whispered, "I'll tell you later."

Morgan was leaning against a desk located to the side of Reid's. There was one bouquet left. He cast a slightly nervous glance at the younger profiler, who was, as always, so immersed in his work that he paid no attention to the hubbub going on around him.

The mail lady shouted, "Reid!" When no one answered, she tried again. _"Spencer Reid!"_

Reid looked up from his computer, squinting and frowning. Morgan gestured toward the cart.

"That's you, man."

"Huh?"

"Somebody sent you flowers! Go get 'em."

"Flowers?" Reid followed Morgan's pointing finger and managed to grasp the situation. He still didn't bother to stand up. "Who the heck would send me flowers?"

"I don't know. Why don't you go find out," Morgan said, enunciating each word separately.

"Oh. Okay." Reid ambled over to the cart and took the large bouquet of perfect red roses from the unamused mail lady's hands. He carried it over to his desk and set it down, and then rifled among the greenery until he found a small envelope with his name on it. He opened it, and read out loud, "Happy Valentine's Day." He looked at each of his female co-workers, all of whom were now distracted from their own flowers and were eagerly watching him.

"So?" Prentiss prompted. "Who're they from?"

Reid shook his head. "I don't know. There's no name, nothing but the greeting." He shrugged, mystified, before sitting down again.

"Who could it be?" JJ asked.

"I honestly have no idea," Reid answered. "Maybe it's a mistake."

"That's your name on the card, kid. No other Spencer Reid works in this building." Morgan was watching the young man's face intently, but Reid didn't look up.

"No, that's true," Reid agreed, still staring at the card. "Maybe it's some kind of advertising promotion."

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Garcia interjected. "Is it really so hard to believe a girl could send you flowers?"

"Kind of," Reid said uncertainly. "I mean, I haven't been seeing anyone."

"What about that brunette at the coffee shop? She was flirting with you like crazy yesterday," Prentiss said.

"She was?"

"Yeah. She sees your name on your credit card every day, maybe she got a look at your badge and figured out where you work."

"Hm." Reid didn't look convinced, Morgan was happy to note.

"What about Lila?" JJ asked. "Maybe she sent them."

Reid shook his head. "We haven't spoken for months. Anyway, she's dating some film producer now."

"Austin!" Garcia called out from behind her bouquet.

"Huh?"

"You know, that cute bartender lady you met a while back."

"Oh! Oh, I don't think so. We talked on the phone a few times, but that was it."

"Maybe she's been pining for you and decided to reach out," Rossi said as he joined the team in their cheery inquiry.

"What good would that do if she didn't put her name on the card?" Reid pointed out.

Rossi gave Reid an additional moment's consideration before heading to his office. "Is there anyone else you've been getting friendly with lately?"

Reid pursed his lips and shook his head. "Nope. It's a complete mystery." He looked back at Morgan. "Should I be worried?"

Morgan got an oddly defensive look on his face. "No. Why?"

"Well, maybe there's a hidden bug, or a camera or something..." Reid began brashly combing through the thorny stems, then halted suddenly, his eyes growing large. "Hey, they screen this stuff for anthrax, right?"

Morgan exasperatedly pulled them away from him.

"Oh, give me a break! You got some anonymous admirer sending you flowers and you can't think of any possibility other than that its some kind of James Bond espionage crap? What the hell's the matter with your self esteem, youngster?"

Reid gave him a bewildered frown, but nodded and accepted the bouquet back into his arms. "Yeah... well, I guess they're okay. It's just weird, that's all."

Morgan huffed irritably, then strode off to his desk while everyone else stood around comparing arrangements and the sentiments written on their cards.

Except for Reid, who had already apparently forgotten his flowers and was back in the depths of his computer screen's magic.

* * *

It was a little after 5:00 PM, and everyone had already hurried off, eager to meet their Valentines for dinner. Morgan lagged behind, determined to wait until Reid got up to leave. He was just about to try hurrying him along when Reid stood up and stretched, then gathered his messenger bag and jacket and started to head out.

"Reid?"

"Hm?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Morgan tipped his head toward the flowers.

"Oh, yeah." Reid frowned at them and Morgan rolled his eyes.

"Will you quit thinking there's something sinister about them?"

"Right. Okay." Reid picked them up and started walking toward the door. Morgan followed.

They headed to the elevator, took it down to the parking garage, and then walked side by side toward their cars. Just as they were about to part ways, Morgan stopped. Reid took note and paused as well.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Morgan said softly. "I just..."

"What?"

Morgan took a deep breath. "Look, kid... _I_ sent you the flowers."

Reid's eyes widened. "You?" he asked, his brow knit.

"Yeah. I'm sorry—it was stupid. I just... I've been thinking that maybe something was sort of... starting to happen between us, and I thought when you saw them, that maybe you'd just _know_ where they came from." A wistful look crossed his face. "Or, worst case scenario, that maybe at least it'd get you motivated to start a conversation with the girl at the coffee shop."

"Oh, wow," Reid said in a low voice.

Morgan sighed ruefully. "Yeah. It never occurred to me that you'd think the roses had been weaponized." He laughed a little and so did Reid. Then Morgan continued, "But, the idea that they might be from me never even crossed your mind, so that tells me everything I need to know." He regarded Reid's still bewildered expression and added tiredly, "I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to embarrass you. I just didn't want you to go home thinking your pretty flowers were about to explode, or release toxic gas or something." He forced himself to give what he hoped was a carefree smile. "Anyway, just forget it, okay? Goodnight."

He started walking toward his car when he heard Reid clear his throat and say, "Morgan?"

He turned. "Yeah?"

"Uh—the fact that it didn't occur to me that you might have sent the flowers doesn't have anything to do with whether or not there's something going on between us."

Morgan brightened a little. "It doesn't?"

"No. It's more that... I've had so many disappointments in my life. I don't mean to sound like I'm feeling sorry for myself, but—I've sort of learned to assume the worst about any given situation. I wish I wasn't that way, but..." Reid looked down at the flowers. He pulled one long-stemmed beauty from the bunch and held it out to Morgan, a wry smile on his face. "Here. Happy Valentine's Day."

Morgan stood there, just staring. Then he gave a weak chuckle. "What is this, 'The Bachelor?'" he asked.

"'The Bachelor...?' Oh." Reid looked at the rose in his hand. "Is giving you a rose an insult or something?"

"No." Morgan strode forward and took the flower from Reid. "No, not in the least." He held it to his nose and inhaled the sweet fragrance. "It's perfect. Thank you."

Somehow, they managed to awkwardly work their way into each other's arms. They hugged for a moment before pulling away and standing quietly, until Reid asked, "So... Do you want to go to dinner?"

Morgan felt a surge of elation. "Sure. Come on, I'll drive." They started walking towards Morgan's car. Morgan glanced at his companion and noticed he was frowning.

"What?"

Reid shrugged. "Oh, I bet we won't be able to get a table at any of the good restaurants."

A slow grin crossed Morgan's face. "Oh, I think we will."

"Yeah, right, we'll just walk in with no reservations—on _Valentine's Day."_

"Well, actually—we do have reservations."

"We do?"

"Uh-huh."

"Where?"

"At La Claire, that French place you said you wanted to try."

Reid paused beside Morgan's car. "Really?"

Morgan stopped also. "Yeah, really. I made them yesterday."

Reid laughed. "Pretty confident, aren't you?"

"No. No, Reid, I'm not. I'm just... an optimist." He took Reid's face in his hands. "And, if you'll let me, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that the next time something nice unexpectedly happens to you—and, there _will_ be a next time—the first thing you think of is me." He leaned forward and his lips lightly brushed Reid's before he turned and opened the passenger side door for him.

Reid broke into a smile, pondering the feather-like touch he could still feel on his lips. It was definitely nice, definitely unexpected, and he liked that it came from Morgan. He had a feeling he could get used to it. "Hm. Challenge accepted," he said as he sat down.

Morgan felt a sense of relief and excitement wash over him. He went to the driver's side and got in. He took a moment to look into Reid's eyes and squeeze his hand before starting the car.

Valentine's Day had definitely taken a turn for the better.

He hoped Reid wouldn't look at the champagne and caviar he'd pre-ordered with too much suspicion.

The End


End file.
